Wanted: President with Low Expectations

So as I'm looking at job ads, I'm noticing how many employers require applicants to have a master's degree along with proof of success in the field for pissant jobs with sucky wages. So I'm wondering why the fuck we're not requiring this of the President of the United States.

Most jobs these days that pay above 30K a year require at least a bachelor degree. You can get away with a C average in basket weaving, so I think you need to step it up to a masters if you want to be President. Forget about averages, you need at least a B in a graduate level class to even pass it. This would weed out the Bushs of the world that maintained a 2.0 GPA at Yale even with a slew of Ds and Fs because they sought out the easy classes to get the occassional A or B.

Maybe they can apply for the job with only a bachelors if they have 20 years of experience with proof of success and leadership skills. I haven't decided yet.

Okay, seriously, why the hell aren't we making education and experience an issue with regards to the most powerful leader in the country? Just because some yahoo graduated from Yale, Harvard or Princeton, doesn't mean they're capable of the job. It means they had the money to get in and the ability to pull off a 2.0. In their tenure at Yale, both Bush and Kerry had a C average (a 77 and 76 percent respectively). Fuck me. Would you want a doctor performing an operation on you if they had a C average? Probably not. But sure! Run the country, how hard can it be...

This of course isn't saying that the Master's degree is the end all be all. Of course not. Condoleeza Rice has a Ph.D. and look at what she did with it. I sometimes wonder though if she's seething with fury everytime Bush opens his mouth. That's her boss. It really must suck. Still, she made her bed. So advanced degrees definitely don't make you the best candidate for anything. But it's interesting to see how many people think this is what's needed to basically get a low power, pissant job you will definitely be over qualified for - versus how many people don't think it matters a wit for the job of the Presidency.

Eating Healthy

In honor of Caesar Augustus and that fateful day he bought the farm with a poison fig, today I got the fig salad for lunch (a wilted spinach salad in a balsamic reduction with figs, seasonal friut, polenta encrusted tempeh and feta cheese). If you're ever in Denver, I recommend the Watercourse Cafe (forgive the flash website) for your alternative breakfast and lunch needs. They use all organic foods and have a good deal of meals a vegan could well enjoy if they can stomach the carnivore next to them. Very good food. And the fig salad is - dare I say - the best fucking salad I've ever had in my entire life. The server complimented me on ordering it. Most people look at the list of ingredients and immediately pass it by. Their loss. I was dubious the first time I tried it, but I strive to try new things whenever I can and so pressed forward. Fortunately for me.

But it had me thinking about how I look at food these days and how far I've come from only a few months ago. I've put very little in my mouth without really thinking about it. True, I've eaten some junkfood, but I really thought about it first. As a result, I did it very seldomly and when I thought about what I gained from it versus what I lost, I didn't repeat it. I bought some diabetic candy a few weeks ago and munched on that a little. To my horror I found I started gaining wieght back (8 lbs) - freaked out, threw it away and lost the weight I gained in 10 days. but the imporant lesson there was that I didn't really crave the food and I can't think of a single reason now to ever eat it again. So it's all good. Crisis averted, all's well with the world.

Anyway - gluten-fee-sugar free diets are a little tough to work with. I found it amusing that there's tons of sugar-free shit out there, but getting away from gluten is next to impossible. I've been trying to find more cooking books about eating gluten-free that don't contain ways to substitute for wheat based crap. I'd rather just avoid it than substitute for it. I suppose I just need to look in regular cook books and put my knowledge of sugar-free/gluten-free foods to work, but it'd be nice to have a list of new ideas based on my dietary needs. Over all it's all good though.